Surf lifesaving Australia have official rulings to be adhered to and one states that fibreglass nipper boards must be no less than 4.5kg in weight.A light weight nipper board can be an advantage, especially for our light weight juniors, so our aim is to be as close to the minimum weight possible without sacrificing strength.

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN (CAD) SOFTWAREUtilising the benefits of design software for over ten years, we are well versed in creating the curves needed to control our shapes. The best part of being able to design using a three dimensional drawing program is the reliability to adjust and progress designs before it goes to the machine to be cut.

COMPUTER NUMERICALY CONTROLLED (CNC) MACHINERYHaving a perfectly deigned board file becomes irrelevant if the machinery is not up to standard.Having used several dedicated surfboard CNC's over the early years of computer shaping we discovered a mixed bag of results that lacked consistency.After a lot of research we took the plunge and bought a new CNC machine that had the finesse of creating a product as small as a ring, but the power, length and accuracy to cut objects as big as 10'6” racer.

We created our own lock down system to accurately hold the foam core in place while we let the machine do its job. We designed our own cutting blades for the spindle, this gives us an even closer cut to the original design file. It also enables us to design and cut our own fins, plugs,recess handles and many of the tools needed in the factory.

COREThe core the nipper board industry currently uses for is a light weight foam called Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS). The only downfall with this foam is its open cell which means water can travel deep into the core the longer it is left open in the water. So within our core we are infusing high density closed cell foam in areas of the board that are consistently weak points due to standard use. These areas are the nose, tail, fin area and the plugs the board straps are connected to.

The benefit of using high density closed cell foam is not only the extra strength factor but if it does fracture in these areas the water cant travel through the foam and is contained until repaired.

This core once CNC machined allows us to create a very clean and accurate shape ready to move on to the next process.

LAMINATION

The laminating process is an important strength factor and as I mentioned earlier we have goal a weight that needs to be met. We use only the best epoxy resin and fibreglass to laminate our nipper boards and have refined this system for our epoxy surfboard range over the last ten years.We have tested many different types of fibreglass over the years including carbon fibre, kevlar and unidirectional cloth to name few. We found that although they tested to be a bit stronger, they were still venerable to fracturing and water will still enter the EPS core.This is why we made the decision to use high density closed cell foam in high traffic areas.If the custom order requests carbon fibre it can also be done.

ARTWORK

Surf lifesaving Australia have official rulings to be adhered to i.e. the first 100mm on each end of the board have to be a HI-VIZUAL colour (green, yellow, red, pink, orange).With this now being a consistent feature in all brands we decided to infuse our own consistent feature being a rail band that flows from nose to tail. Incorporating the hi-viz at each end and being any colour in between has become our trade mark.

This leaves plenty of room for colour or design on the top and bottom of the board.

Artwork is available in two forms. Paint and a combination of inlay and paint.Paint is used for our stock boards and can be any colour or combination of colour.Inlay is a printed material that is laminated under the fibreglass and can be placed on the top, bottom or both. The painted rail band is added afterwards and can be any colour as long as the nose and tail are hi-viz.

For surf clubs team colours are easily achievable.For custom orders, a proofing of design and price will be provided.